The real Novak Djokovic finally showed up at the 2024 Australian Open in Melbourne in his latest match, so what can we expect from him against Adrian Mannarino?
The Serbian's first-round match was the longest first-round match he ever played. It lasted over four hours as teenager Dino Prizmic refused to lose easily. It was an admirable effort, with Alexei Popyrin following up with his own, but neither really managed to do much damage.
They won one set, more than Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who faced a really strong effort from Djokovic, his best since the event started. On the other hand, Adrian Mannarino has had a torturous Grand Slam so far, as he has already spent almost 12 hours playing tennis.
All three of his matches went to five sets, and all three lasted over three hours, with the most recent match against Ben Shelton lasting five hours. That's brutal, and be assured that Djokovic will be well aware of that fact when the match comes around.
Head-to-head:
Despite being part of the ATP Tour for years, Djokovic and Mannarino only shared the court four times. That's surprisingly few times, but as you can guess, the French player never beat the reigning world number one.
Their most recent match was played a long time ago, in 2018, and many would say that Mannarino, at age 35, is playing the best tennis he has ever played.
He was certainly impressive against Shelton; with that level, he could do something here. He's taken some sets off of Djokovic in the past, so it's not impossible, though fitness will be a huge question mark after playing so much lately.
| Novak Djokovic | Adrian Mannarino | |
| 4 | H2H | 0 |
| 1 | Rank | 19 |
| 36 | Age | 35 |
| 6-1 | 2024 W/L | 3-4 |
| 1092-214 | Career W/L | 292-315 |
Prediction:
The Frenchman just doesn't have some spectacular weapons that could hurt the Serbian; he's just very solid all around. Solid doesn't cut it against the world number one especially not with tired legs.
Prediction: Novak Djokovic to win in three sets.
0 Comments